The Woman Who Owned the Shadows by Paula Gunn Allen

The Woman Who Owned the Shadows Reviews

• 
  Lynn Wilson

  This book is difficult to describe, as it's written in a very interiorized, circular fashion. My sense is we'll each relate to it differently. We're inside the central character's mind, and at times it felt as if she might be going mad. But by the end of the book I had a very strong sense of the cultural dislocation and identity confusion created by the imposition of one culture on another; with the subsequent shaming that happens in a child's mind, when their birth culture is discounted by the dominant culture. It has stayed with me.
• 
  Caleb Tankersley

  The novel is important in a literary context (first NA novel to feature a queer protagonist), but it's not exactly an enjoyable read. Parts of it are nice, but the stream of consciousness style wears a reader out over such a long haul. The ending is also frustratingly coy and inconclusive. I'm glad I read it, but I don't think I'll be picking it up again.
• 
  Andy

  This book was not always enjoyable, but I did think it was a powerful portrait of the struggles of Native Americans. Between those who view Native Americans as savages and those that view them as noble stewards of the earth, most don't view them as individuals. Ephanie suffers from a lack of identity while dealing with people in San Francisco and also those on the reservation. She doesn't know her place and seeing inside her mind while she seeks herself painted an interesting picture. When this book was published it provided a necessary perspective. Between then and now, I'm sure there have been similar works from other disadvantaged groups that might resonate more with some. That might lower the uniqueness of this work, but not its importance.
• 
  Clara Sophia

  It's hard to read but it captured so well to me the process of slowly uncovering important truths about oneself and even more slowly remaking oneself. It balances really well between vivid descriptions of events/ interactions and creating entirely new languages for abstract thought processes. A slow, strange, delicious, truthful book.
• 
  Heather Godeaux

  This is perhaps one of the most unpleasant books I have ever read. I am delighted to be through with it.
• 
  Juanita

  Review: The Woman Who Owned The Shadows by Paula Gunn Allen.
  
  This is a book about a contemporary American Indian woman named Ephanie Atencio. The poetic writing style captivated me from page one. Yet, the content was fascinating and interesting it was sometimes hard to follow. The story was written in various combinations revolving around different aspects of Ephanie 19s life. In order for me to understand and visualize clearly I had to read at a slow pace. The story of Ephanie life was occupied by many issues and it took a strong woman to live among minorities, especially being female, lesbian, and Native American.
  
  Ephanie Atencio story begins when she is under a lot of stress and is on the edge of having a breakdown. Her husband has left her and she becomes unable to care for her children. Her mother winds up taking the children so Ephanie could have time to pull herself together. She leaves New Mexico for San Francisco, where she can sort out parts of her emotions and life. For a while she went through a process of remembering her childhood and ultimately finding a way to know herself, no longer relying on men. She learns her journey weaves effectively through many faces of reality. She searches for her strength and her power that she knows is within her in order to face her future.
  
  Ephanie does marry again to a Nisei man, Thomas Yoshuri, feeling at this time in her life he needs her and she needs structure. She soon realizes she can 19t know herself through him. She starts to spend a lot of time with the white women of the community and is befriended by Teresa who she can easily talk with. Ephanie goes through many confusing emotions throughout her story but when she finally accepts reality within herself she knows her future was among the women of her own people and the women in her world.
  
  
  
• 
  Calista

  I whole-heartedly agree with the review below by Lynn Wilson, and would add that it was somewhat difficult to read for the same reasons it is difficult to describe, but overall I think it was worth the read.
• 
  Cynthia

  I don't think I can find the words to explain this experience. This was challenging at times, and I know I missed a lot, but I deeply enjoyed it and there were moments of sheer depth I cannot describe.
• 
  Ryan Mishap

  Great myth re-creating, though it is hard to read.
• 
  Tammy

  this book took forever to read...
• 
  Hannah Marie

  Having finished the book, I am really drawn to reading more of her work- however, I did feel that some aspects of the plot felt unresolved (and not in a good way, in a way that left me unsatisfied).
• 
  Marian

  Poetic writing that captivated me. Fascinating unravelling of layers of distorting experience to remember self.
• 
  Hollis

  This book is absolutely jaw-dropping. It's weaving of mythology and spiritual world-building into a narrative of one woman's drive towards cathartic release from trauma is handled so strongly. I'm surprised this isn't more well-read, because it feels so foundational to later texts. While it is about one woman, Ephanie, it is also placing her within a late 70s/early 80s cultural moment where there is a lot of discussion about the future of Indigenous identity in the United States. This question of identity is further complicated by Paula Gunn Allen's own identity as a woman of mixed-race European-American and Laguna Pueblo heritage. This contributes to many of Ephanie's issues when she meets condescending white woman who seem bent on reading all Indians from a victimized lens, deflating the full scope of humanity.
  
  This text is hard to generalize, given how scattershot the structure is, but we're basically dealing with a young woman who is learning to find her own voice after feeling silenced by the weight of cultural erasure, theories of mythic determinism, Indigenous victimization, and various forms of discrimination carried out in reservation schools and reproduced in her village. While reading, I thought back to Tracey Lindberg's Birdie and Leanne Betasamosake Simpson's Noopiming. I also thought back to Leslie Marmon Silko's more contemporaneous Storyteller, though what that text does with short stories and poems is generated as novel here.
  
  With the question of genre, this text functions with a great deal of poetic influence, which greatly contributes to my positive experience. I love the barriers of prose/poetry explores here, as well as the additional distinctions of past/present and myth/reality (this final distinction is one some may reject on principle, but I think it's always an interesting relationship to explore in art). In terms of structure, Allen works with very brief chapters, all given unique titles, which contributes to a feeling of scattered collage, fitting for a narrative dealing with a multitude of competing voices embodied by the protagonist. In general, this is one of the more profound explorations of trauma, psychological grief, and the relationship between individuals and their wider, claimed community. Furthermore, it is a rich portrait of the United States at the time of publication, and the many subterranean communities forged by women and various ethnicities. In particular, some readers may be intrigued to know that Japanese immigration holds a surprisingly weighted role in the net of ideas considered.
  
  Finally, I will just say that the main reason I love this book is because of Allen's relationship with language and surreal writing. Each page is filled to the brim with poetic phrasings and dreamlike images, which makes the text equal parts challenging and rewarding. The author doesn't present an easy to comprehend narrative, but the resistance to easy-tellings makes her writing feel all the realer. What more can I say... I feel that this should hold a place in the canon of late twentieth century experimental fiction by women. I could see this being read favorable alongside Maxine Hong Kingston's Woman Warrior, Margaret Atwood's Edible Woman, and the stuff mentioned above. Especially recommended for fans of fragmented, poetic narratives stitched together as novel.
• 
  Caitlyn

  This book is complex and beautiful in its complexity. I will very well need to read it again, and probably another time after that, to fully grasp the depth of this book. Paula Gunn Allen has an exquisite way of writing where you feel compelled to re-read their words. This book tackles settler-colonialism, racism, sexism, gender roles, and elaborates on them through a truth from the heart. This is what I felt while reading. Wonderful book.
• 
  Tallon Kennedy

  Love this novel's exploration of mental illness and how settler-colonialism robs indigenous peoples of their mental and bodily health. It's also about resistance to settler-colonialism and is about a woman making room for her own existence within the shadows of history. However the book is fairly intangible and abstract, can be hard to follow and pay attention to throughout. 6/10
• 
  Chris

  Great book. It’s really complex but I’m glad I wasn’t discouraged.
• 
  emily ✿

  ✩ 3.0 ✩
  
  “Yes, my dear,” she said out loud to herself, “you took quite a fall.” And felt pure amazement at the long time it had taken before she had finally found again the ground.